Just image if those so called "children" had been blowing up school buses, launching mortars, planting IED's, stabbing pregnant women, beheading 8 year olds, cutting out the hearts of kidnap victims, digging tunnels and using them to launch kidnappings on apartment complexes a few miles down the road…

Image that…

Image that these same "kids" got the town to hire them, enmass, and used governmental buildings, schools and churches to store massive amounts of weapons and TNT?

I remember MOVE. The firemen and cops dropped a stun and smoke bomb on a house occupied by MOVE during a police standoff. After criminal and civil case the City rebuilt the entire block with new homes worth 300% the value of the old homes and additional compensation to the victims. MOVE were in the houses on their own accord. They were not quarantined to Powelton or West Philadelphia. Their children went to Philadelphia schools. They could bring building material from Montgomery County if they chose, They could fish off the Jersey Coast or in the Delaware River. They did not have the New Jersey National Guard preventing them from crossing boundaries and their were no walls around Powelton Village. Medical care was available to them and the PAANG did not target their leaders.

Now explain to us how your team of entitled by GOD with the unmentionable middle initial handles it.

Boosted by two days of U.S. air strikes, Iraqi and Kurdish forces on Monday wrested back control of the country’s largest dam from Islamic militants, a military spokesman in Baghdad said as fighting was reported to be underway for the rest of the strategic complex.

Soon after the news broke, the Islamic State group, which two weeks ago captured the Mosul Dam spanning the Tigris River just north of the city of Mosul, denied the claim, insisting it was still in control of the facility.

U.S. Central Command said U.S. fighters, bombers and drone aircraft conducted 15 strikes around the dam, hitting Islamic State fighting positions as well as an anti-aircraft artillery gun and other weaponry of the Islamic State group that has captured wide swaths northern and western Iraq this summer.

The White House notified Congress by letter on Sunday that U.S. warplanes were engaged in strikes aimed at helping Iraq regain control of the dam.

The letter said "failure of the Mosul dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, threaten U.S. personnel and facilities — including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad — and prevent the Iraqi government from providing crucial services to the Iraqi populace."

"O"rdure, reference those remarks, oh, wait .... You cannot do that, can you?

More lies and deceit from our in house NASI.Repeating the same lies for years, the committee of "O" is shop worn.

Israel Pays Students For Pro-Israeli Social Media Propaganda

The move was publicised in a statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the Associated Press reported. Students will receive scholarships to "engage international audiences online" and combat anti-Semitism and calls to boycott Israel, it was alleged.

In 2012, a Palestinian-run blog reported similar arrangements between the National Union of Israeli Students and the Israeli government. Students would be paid $2,000 to post pro-Israel messages online for five hours a week.

According to Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, the most recent proposition is being spearheaded by Danny Seaman, who was slammed by the media for writing anti-Muslim messages on Facebook.

Students will be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”, the Independent reported.

While the mainstream media is trying to fit surveillance video purporting to show Michael Brown robbing a convenience store of some cigars into the various narratives it’s been constructing since protests and riots in Ferguson, Missouri, propelled the police shooting of an unarmed Brown into the national news cycle, the regular succession of police, or “officer-involved,” shootings continue.

Earlier this week, for example, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department shot and killed a mentally disturbed 25-year-old they said later maybe might have been in a gang. In San Bernardino County, a newspaper employee died in police custody after being tased. Police claim the employed, married, father of five was a suspect in an attempted burglary. It's reported cops are "aggressively" seeking people who may have recorded their interaction with the victim.

And yesterday a 19-year-old woman in San Jose was shot and killed by police after they mistook a power drill she was brandishing for an Uzi. ABC 7 news reports:

San Jose police spokesperson Albert Morales says officers arrived at the scene with caller information that gave them reasonable concern their lives might be at risk.

"We had a call, somebody with an Uzi, threatening to kill family members -- a very, very serious situation, very dangerous situation for our officers. We had communication with this person. Unfortunately, I guess at some point those communications either broke down or the officers felt threatened in some form or fashion."

Officers who did respond had specialized training to deal with the potential the person may have mental health issues.

There was no one else in the home outside of which the 19-year-old was shot so it’s unclear how the 911 call was so botched.

Exactly, it is a totally unjustified use of military equipment and the photo demonstrates how inappropriate and disproportionate it is as well as the officer being untrained in the use and lethality of sniper equipment. It further demonstrates a paranoia brought on by the very properties inherent use of combat equipment.

Deuce ☂Mon Aug 18, 04:46:00 PM EDTExactly, it is a totally unjustified use of military equipment and the photo demonstrates how inappropriate and disproportionate it is as well as the officer being untrained in the use and lethality of sniper equipment. It further demonstrates a paranoia brought on by the very properties inherent use of combat equipment.

What I've actually so far said, Deuce and Ash, is not enough is known yet about what happened. I haven't even heard the shooter's side of the story yet.

The autopsy guy said on Fox there was no shot to the back. There are going to be three autopsy reports in the end. The best one will probably be by the county, the other two, by the family and the one by Holder have too much to gain for the family and Holder to be trustworthy. And we have that tape recording...etc etc

Why don't you ever read what I've actually said?

Right now I'm the only one here that is non judgmental.

All the rest of you shit kickers (this is a term of affection out here) have already decided, with the exception of Quart.

Finally nailed the two flies that have been bugging me for a day and a half - had to go chemical to do it though.

It's a little hard to handle an investigation when mobs decide to burn, rob, and loot. Common citizens probably like the idea of not being murdered in the middle of the night.

As is always the case with the cowboys, one grenade would get them all.

While the world focused on Ferguson, twenty-six people were shot in Chicago over the weekend - 6 fatally.

Moral depravity fits into all this somewhere.

...elsewhere...

"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is unlikely to advance the next leadership race in his Likud party due to frustration in the public about how he has handled the culmination of Operation Protective Edge and its aftermath, Likud sources said Monday...

“There has been a rise in the number of people in Likud who are unsatisfied with Bibi [Netanyahu],” an MK in Likud said. “He can no longer advance the election even if he wanted to.”

maybe the "gentle giant" got shot 1st in the lower extremities when confronting the cop for another round of whoop ass on the cop, this time the cop shoot the perp in the arm, then the gentle giant charged, the cop shot and the gentle giant went down for the count.

no matter we we learn in time what happened and then? it will not mean anything to the looters and their supporters..

Iraqi and Kurdish forces recaptured Iraq's biggest dam from Islamist militants with the help of U.S. air strikes to secure a vital strategic objective in fighting that threatens to break up the country, Kurdish and U.S. officials said on Monday.

...

Hoshiyar Zebari, a top Kurdish official, said Iraqi Kurd forces had captured the dam - blighted by structural problems since it was built by West German engineers for Saddam Hussein in the 1980s - with help from U.S. air strikes nearby.

...

A 2006 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report obtained by the Washington Post said the dam, which blocks the Tigris and holds 12 billion cubic meters of water, could flood two cities killing tens of thousands of people if it were destroyed or collapsed. The report called it "the most dangerous dam in the world."

Like a scorned lover who can’t wait to find a new romance to replace the old, Russia is quickly moving on from Europe.

Following last week’s order from Moscow to sanction European food imports, Russia is now turning to Brazil, New Zealand and even China is courting them.

“This (ban) could provide a major opportunity for Latin American economies, especially for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay,” said Robert Wood, an analyst for The Economist Intelligence Unit. Last week, Wood wrote for his subscribers that Russian companies have agreed to “generous business deals” with agribusiness power houses Argentina and Brazil.

In Moscow this week Russian agriculture official Sergei Dankvert held meetings with diplomats from several Latin American countries, including Argentina and Brazil, to discuss replacing European imports of chicken, beef and other food items. Dankvert said the government would lift restrictions on importing meat, fish and produce effective immediately, which doubled the number of meat packing facilities permitted to sell to Russia. For their part, Brazilian officials were the most enthusiastic. The country is the world’s largest beef and chicken exporter, and the thought of replacing European companies on long term supply contracts is a positive in an economy that’s been full of negatives.

Russia says it is moving on from European food suppliers following sanctions last week.

On Monday, Chinese agribusiness firms said that they too were interested in Russia.

Last year, Chinese companies exported $2.1 billion in agricultural products to Russia. ”China is ready to further work with Russia to expand bilateral trade in agricultural products,” ministry spokesperson Shen Danyang was quoted saying by the Xinhua news agency on Monday. ”China…will continue to create the conditions for bilateral cooperation in the energy and agricultural sectors,” Danyang said.

Just as Europe is looking to diversify away from Russia, Russia is looking to move on from Europe as well. It’s eastern neighbor isn’t as rich, but it has a lot of room to grow. And not just in agriculture, but also as a potential investor and customer for Russian natural gas.

Europe and Russia have been in a political stand-off over the political crisis in Ukraine. The crisis, which began late last year over a trade deal rejected by then-president Viktor Yanukovych, led to his ousting on Feb. 22, and the annexation of Ukrainian territory on March 17 by the Russian Federation. Sanctions immediately followed by Brussels, with Washington in lockstep with its NATO allies.

Europe upped the ante recently by banning E.U. firms from conducting business with a number of important Russian companies, including banning trade in components used for oil and gas drilling, financing energy projects in Crimea, and banning business with the VTB Group, one of the biggest banks in Russia.

VTB Group’s subsidiary, VTB Capital, was not sanctioned by Brussels, a company press agent told FORBES recently. VTB Capital is one of the largest Russian investment banks operating in Europe. It also maintains an office in New York.

Barclays Capital said in a note last week that Russia’s food ban was a bad move, citing price hikes waiting in the wings. Higher food prices would push up Russian inflation, already over 6%, and force the Central Bank to tighten monetary policy at a time when the economy is suffering. Russian GDP likely contracted in the second quarter as a result of poor business sentiment and capital flight.

Sanctions have been taking their toll on the physical economy as much as it has on investor sentiment. The equity market, meanwhile, remains in the domain of foreign investors looking for deep value. The Market Vectors Russia (RSX) exchange traded fund is actually up over 14% since Crimea seceded from Ukraine. That’s not bad, but still around 200 basis points below the benchmark MSCI Emerging Markets Index.{...}

The U.S. and European Union still believe Russia is fomenting civil unrest in east Ukraine in order to make the new pro-Western government in Kiev look like imbeciles. Russia denies providing any logistical support to pro-Russia separatists in cities like Donetsk, but continues to supply “humanitarian” and other military aid to Ukraine’s ethnic Russians. Kiev sees this as a violation of national sovereignty. Washington and Brussels do, too.

The tit-for-tat sanctions war has hurt Russia more than it has hurt Europe or the U.S., which conducts very little trade with Russian companies.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s ex-president turned Prime Minister, tried to calm the locals on Monday by saying the embargo would not cause price growth or deficits in the domestic food market.

“Naturally, this document should not be to the detriment of Russian consumers or seriously affect food markets. And, certainly, it should not lead to deficit or price growth,” RIA Novosti newswire reported him saying today. ”Naturally, Russia had to take reciprocal measures. I hope they will not last long,” Medvedev said.

The prime minister added that he saw “certain positive aspects” in the current situation, which may “shake up the domestic market” and boost competition.

Medvedev’s sidekick, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said the government was watching food inflation closely. His comments, made to the Russian media today, came with the standard positive spin that the government had suppliers waiting in line.

New suppliers “will be resolved within two or three weeks,” Dvorkovich told the media there.

Russian sanctions address imports of meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, and dairy products from the the U.S., Canada, Australia and Norway as well.

The sanctions have opened new trade opportunities for a number of countries, primarily the Latin American agribusiness powers. But while scale and price is not a problem, distance surely is. Russia may find that its new suitors are not Europe’s equals.

Moreover, Russia could find itself in a bind if the E.U. or the U.S. demanded that trading partners like Brazil restrict access to its market or face its own punishment. That does not appear to be in the cards at this time.

Russia currently imports around 16% of its food by value, and its domestic consumption of meat, fruit, vegetables and dairy outpaces its domestic capacity to produce it.

According to the World Trade Organisation, Russia is the world’s fifth-largest importer of agricultural products after Europe, China, the U.S. and Japan.

“We’re doing everything we can, both Human Rights Watch and us, to do all the documentation we can, both on the ground in Gaza and remotely. But not being able to have researchers there does create difficulties,” said Amnesty worker Deborah Hyams.

...

The UN’s top human rights official last month said Israel appeared to be deliberately violating international law.

Israel denies the allegations, pointing to warnings it sent to civilians to flee certain areas and countering that militants aimed rockets at Israeli civilians and operated from residential areas – something the UN says also may constitute a war crime.

In this Aug. 13, 2014 photo, A truck drives through an array of mirrors at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System near Primm, Nev. The site uses over 300,000 mirrors to focus sunlight on boilers' tubes atop 450 foot towers heating water into steam which in turn drives turbines to create electricity. New estimates for the plant near the California-Nevada border say thousands of birds are dying yearly, roasted by the concentrated sun rays from the mirrors. (AP Photo/John Locher)

They had a heat wave in Queensland last year. Queensland has a huge flying fox population. It was so hot that bats were dropping from the sky. I saw this one video clip where a bat fell from the sky and landed on some dude's deck. Let out a big screech and then fell over the side of the deck on to the ground, dead.

Any such deaths, or “takes,” of golden eagles would be prohibited under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

In order to avoid prosecution, wind energy companies or other companies that could cause eagle deaths are supposed to apply for permits specifying how many birds they can lawfully kill, and what steps they will take to offset those fatalities with conservation measures.

Since the permits were introduced by the government in 2009, few wind energy companies have stepped forward to apply. The first and only permit of the kind was approved in June for the Shiloh IV wind project in Northern California's Solano County.

While channel surfing, came across an interview on FOX and just caught the end of it unfortunately. Eric Bolling was interviewing Medea Benjamin, one of the co-founders of Code Pink. Ol Medea was pontificating on how the US should stay out of the ME and ol Eric came up with every lame argument we see daily from the dogs of war, from the 'it's only a matter of time before they are hitting us over here' meme to Boko Harum, to we have to defend our 'reliable' allies in the ME. Ol Medea calmly and quietly proceeded to rip ol Eric a new asshole. Didn't raise her voice, remained calm, but met each of his arguments with a logical and reasonable response.

At the end of the interview it was Eric that seemed a little hysterical.

Quite enjoyable.

[If Code Pink didn't do and say a lot of stupid, off-the-wall things (their demonstrations at VA hospitals and voiced opinions on Hugo Chavez come to mind) I would think about sending them some money. I agree with their views on a lot of subjects.]

Whenever, you run across a terrorist group you can be sure of one thing, there is already another group that exists or is forming that is more radical. It's how the new guy on the block makes his bones. At one time the PLO was the tough guy on the block and then along came Hamas. The PA is now seen as moderate. Hamas is radical but secular. There are plenty who would like to replace Hamas, IJ and IS being two of the players. Hamas realizes this and defends its position vis-a-vis these groups using means that equate to extreme prejudice.

With regard to Bibi, he is a dick but he is not a risk taker. The reason Bibi does not heed the counsel of the more bellicose in his coalition (or of members of the Lobby here) is that he judges the risks are too high. He is concerned about the costs, unintended consequences, and the fact that it is very possible that if Hamas disappears they will be replaced by someone even worse.

Israel can't actually defeat Hamas. All they can do is contain them. They can gut their military capability but the political leadership of Hamas isn't even in Gaza. It's in Qatar, living in five-star hotels. Bibi tried to kill Mashaal before by poisoning him but was forced to resurrect him and apologize when the Israeli agents were captured in Jordan and the King threatened to put them on trial if Mashaal died.

In addition, just as Israel manipulates the PA in the West Bank to help keep the peace. They also use Hamas for the same thing in Gaza, quiet for quiet. Hamas leadership has recently been working to keep the peace between the Palestinians and Israel though our Lobby may scoff at this. They have been trying to control IJ and the more radical fringes of the Hamas organization. Hamas no longer uses suicide bombs. Instead since 2005 they have been using rockets, indiscriminate but also relatively ineffective rockets. Between 2009 and 2014, there have been around 10 Israeli deaths by rockets fired out of Gaza. In 2013, the number of rockets fired out of Gaza dropped by 98% from the number fired the previous year.

The only way Israel can completely control Hamas and keep them down is by physically occupying Gaza, a costly proposition. It is much cheaper to maintain an open air prison than it would be to try to rebuild Gaza, replace the destroyed infrastructure,feed the people, and keep a large occupying force there to keep the peace. And then of course there is the political cost.

Lastly, Bibi has to ask himself what happens when Hamas is gone? Who or what will replace it? Can the PA reassert authority there? Or will something more inimical to Israeli interests take over, some entity that might bring back the suicide bombs, the executions, the beheadings. Bibi can look around and see what is going on all around him. But as some here point out, he may not have that much longer to worry about it.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.